Unemployed Paralegal in Denver, Colorado said: I would almost consider drafting and mailing a letter to her (no e-mail) memorializing your followup phone conversation and reiterating your interest in future positions. In that conversation she opened the door; you have to walk through it.

Agreed. I resisted my usual urge to do a thank you note immediately after the interview; being a state agency, the usual rules don't apply the process can be rather... rigid, and I didn't want to break any rules. Both she and the admin will be getting letters (the admin deserves a thanks just for the fact she had to walk me to every stop (3 in the building plus in and out of the building).

I probably shouldn't be so satisfied with a rejection; it helps I got a great contract lead earlier today (no probably of long term, but any work at the lead company would open a lot of doors).

clingingtohope in Westland, Michigan said: I think I may call the recruiter Monday or Tuesday for some information. I really do not want to seem like a pest, but I want them to know I am out there. It seems like it is a hard balance between the two.

If multiple days pass, you aren't being a pest. The "pests" are the candidates who call hourly, or call every day even though they were told it will be at least a week.

If there's a set time for a response, I usually contact a day or two after. If there's not, I usually call within 3-7 days, but after that first call back never more than once a week (and I might email instead of calling, since it's less intrusive).

Jake in Sycamore, Illinois said: 1) Your "feel" for the interview is mostly irrelevant. Unless you know for sure that absolutely bombed it, your personal perspective on how you conducted yourself at the interview is not going to be indicative of anything relevant to how the hiring manager perceived you at the interview. You're too biased towards your own viability. This is why interview coaching (friends or family who will be brutally honest) is necessary before you get out there.

2) If they don't contact you after the interview, you aren't getting the job. I've been struck by the advice I've read/heard from others who suggest that if you repeatedly call either the interviewer or the HRanalyst that this will have any impact on their decision. It won't. I have sent email thank yous, hand written letters, placed thank you calls - they're nice and I wouldn't say to not be courteous, but they are not going to affect the hiring decision at all.

1) For most jobs that don't require superior "people" skills (e.g., management, marketing), the interview is less important than what's on your resume. Employers are looking for a skills match and a cultural fit, and when they start the interview process they've often have already ranked the candidates. It takes an extremely good or extremely bad performance at an interview to get the to re-shuffle their ranking.

2) When you walk at the door at the end of the interview, they've pretty much decided whether or not they want to hire you.

Jake in Sycamore, Illinois said: It's difficult to make generalizations because every industry is different, but I have to say I mostly agree with both these points. Interviews are about personality, organizational fit, and verifying basic facts about your history. This is really all an interview should be about, ultimately. If you're among the top 5 of applicants, hiring managers have a basic idea where you rank before you show up, so they're looking to see if they like you and if you haven't completely BS'd your resume or work history.

Where companies fail in this regard is when they start turning the interview process into a beauty contest. No one needs 5 interviews to decide who to hire. There's something wrong with that firm, internally, if they're doing that. That's a warning sign to jobseekers. If someone is asking you to come in more than 2 or 3 times, they don't know what they want or they don't know how to recruit for their personnel needs. Stay away from those companies because you'll be back out looking again in 6 months anyway.

I agree. When I am scheduled for a 3rd interview, I feel like I should bring my accordian.